Almost three decades after Daniel LaRusso's last on-screen appearance, "The Karate Kid" is returning with a comedy series on YouTube Red that appears to hew closer to the hit 1984 original than the underwhelming sequels and 2010 reboot.

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"Cobra Kai" will be a 10-episode series that brings back the lead actors from the original: Ralph Macchio (Daniel) and William Zabka (the bullying Johnny Lawrence). Pat Morita — warmly remembered for his role as Daniel's mentor, Mr. Miyagi — died in 2005.

Due in 2018, the series features a down-and-out Johnny — who took a crane kick to the face in the 1984 All Valley Tournament and apparently never recovered — reopening the villainous Cobra Kai dojo and reigniting his rivalry with Daniel-san.

"Like everyone who grew up in the 1980s, the three of us are enormous fans of The Karate Kid,” writers and producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg said in a joint statement.

"'Cobra Kai' will be a true continuation of the original films — packed with comedy, heart and thrilling fight scenes. We can’t wait to reignite the LaRusso-Lawrence rivalry."

An important distinction: This will be the first entry in the saga to not use "The Karate Kid" for its title. And there's a reason for that, YouTube's global head of originals Susanne Daniels tells The Hollywood Reporter.

"If The Karate Kid was Daniel’s story, Cobra Kai is equal parts Daniel and Johnny’s story. Also because this is a series and not a movie, we really wanted to reimagine how the story was told. Changing the name made sense as part of that."